Aaron Donald among top-five favorites to win Defensive Player of the Year

With Wade Phillips taking over as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, the team will be moving away from the 4-3 in favor of a 3-4 front. With that, Aaron Donald will be changing positions for the first time in his career.

He’ll be moving from defensive tackle to defensive end in Phillips’ scheme, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem for the three-time Pro Bowler. He’s one of the most dominant defenders in the game today, wreaking havoc from any spot on the line.

Vegas seems to think he’s among the best defensive players, too, giving him the fifth-best odds to win Defensive Player of the Year, according to Bovada.

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The players ahead of him are J.J. Watt, Khalil Mack, Von Miller and Joey Bosa. Two of the four have already won the award in the past (Watt and Mack), with Miller and Bosa looking like perennial contenders, as well.

It’s unclear how Donald’s holdout impacted his odds in Vegas’ eyes, but the fact that he hasn’t participated in training camp certainly doesn’t help his case. Changing schemes in favor of a 3-4 also brings some uncertainty, which could be the reason he’s slightly behind Joey Bosa in Bovada’s rankings.

If he wants to take home the hardware, he’ll need to put together a season similar to the one he had in 2015. That year, he recorded 11 sacks, 69 tackles and recovered one fumble for 40 yards.